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In the run up to Christmas we thought it was time to run another styling post, this time looking at those situations where we want to take an office outfit with us into the evenings. There are lots of tips and tricks from the beauty bloggers out there about how to adjust make up, but we think that simple jewellery boosts can do the same trick but in a quicker and more effective way…that doesn’t involve leaning over the sinks in the office toilet to get your eyeliner right and soaking your dress from the spillage that your colleagues didn’t clean up…but maybe that’s just the toilets in my office!

Anyway, to this end we have selected a generic black dress with a V neck (below) and we’re going to have a look at a way of taking it from day to night.

To give you an idea of my normal work attire I would team this with something really classic, as an example we have a ruby set below. The ring and pendant are very simple and smart (I work in an office in the city) but the earrings (also ruby) are a drop so add some interest. You could use simple studs (either a ruby or a plain silver/white gold stud) to match with this set for a really professional look, but if, like me, you have some flexibility or leeway in your work “uniform” I think the longer drop add some interest to the very plain outfit.

The joy of a LBD is the magic that can be worked with the right accessories, for moving onto an evening outfit you can really go crazy! The current trend for large collar type necklaces won’t really work with a deep V-neck like this, but you can use the opportunity to go really over the top with your bling!

As we’re planning a work do we haven’t gone too far over the top, sticking with a classic silver look we have gone large and chunky to really distinguish the change of accessories. We’re using a fabulous set from Oliver Bonas by way of example, but there are similar beautiful looks out there both on the high street and in designer boutiques, we’ve listed a couple of our favourites later in the post.

You can see in the picture below that there’s a lot of detail and size in the design without being too fussy – you could get away with something much sparklier depending upon the nature of your evening do.

Wearing a matching set keeps this formal enough to reflect a slightly smarter occasion, such as a work event, rather than a more casual evening with friends.

A plain dress can happily take something structural such as the artistic designs of Ute Decker. Even if you want to remain with more daytime jewellery how about topping it up with a statement ring from Tina Engell. The Cara Tonkin Vesper collection (below) would add real movement to an outfit such as this.

Whatever you’re doing this summer you’re sure to want to liven up your summer wardrobe with some jewellery. To help we’ve styled up a basic white t-shirt and jeans in two different ways to give you some inspiration.

This is the outfit we started with:

The first style is from the high street at H&M and is all about bright summer colours, both contrasting and complementing the outfit:

A bright necklace livens up the plain tshirt, and the bangles tie all the colours together:

The earrings finally finish off the outfit with complementing colours. The earrings are understated to draw the colours together without making being overpowering.

The second style is also about contrasts, but more the contrast of material rather than colour, it’s an edgier style, less beach and more ‘Camden on holiday,’ but also from the high street.

The chunky necklace is a mix of colours, sizes and materials, the matching bracelet has a fantastic contrast including a cotton type friendship bracelet, it’s a single piece but you could easily put something similar together with items you already own.

We’ve added bangles on the other wrist for a further embellishment, but these could be left out, they are layered with two bangles to maintain the heavyset, metallic style.

Again we’ve kept the earrings simple, so as not to overload the look.

Keeping the earrings simple and not using any rings means that the look isn’t ridiculous or overpowering, in the words of Coco Chanel:

“Before leaving the house, a lady should stop, look in the mirror, andremove one piece of jewelry.”

(Adventures through the Loupe’s top tip: don’t put it on in the first place 😉 )